People diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in recent years are less likely to develop diabetes-related vision loss than those diagnosed in earlier years, says a new study. Forecasts of visual impairment prevalence in T1D patients may need to be amended, the researchers suggest, since current predictions assume that the earlier incidence rates will continue.

Share:

Total shares:

FULL STORY

People diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in recent years are less likely to develop diabetes-related vision loss than those diagnosed in earlier years, says a new study funded by the National Eye Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health. Forecasts of visual impairment prevalence in T1D patients may need to be amended, the researchers suggest, since current predictions assume that the earlier incidence rates will continue.

Ronald Klein, MD, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences assessed visual acuity over 25 years in 955 people diagnosed with T1D in one of four time periods, with the earliest defined as "before 1960" and the latest as "1975 through 1979."

"Visual impairment in T1D patients may be decreasing for several reasons," Dr. Klein said. "Effective treatments for diabetic retinopathy (DR) and related macular edema became widely available in the 1970s, and earlier screening and detection of DR began in the 1980s. In the 1990s, we learned that intensive control of blood glucose could significantly impact DR progression in T1D, so physicians and patients began closely monitoring this factor and controlling it with diet, exercise and medication."

Key findings include: among participants who had T1D for 30 to 34 years at the time their eyes were examined for the study, impaired vision was found in 16 percent of those diagnosed from 1922 through 1959, compared with 9 percent of those diagnosed from 1970 through 1974; also, among patients who had T1D for 15 to 19 years at the time they were examined, impaired vision was found in only four percent of those diagnosed from 1975 through 1979.

July 31, 2015  School is just around the corner, which means backpacks and packed lunches await your children. One expert offers tips for parents to promote healthy dental habits while away from ... read more

July 29, 2015  By blocking the expression of a certain gene in patients, researchers have contributed to the demonstration of great decreases in the concentration of triglycerides in their ... read more

July 29, 2015  Viewing aquarium displays led to noticeable reductions in blood pressure and heart rate, a research team found in the first study of its kind. They also noted that higher numbers of fish helped to ... read more

Apr. 27, 2015  A study of more than 1.2 million children in Sweden has concluded that children of parents with any type of diabetes are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes (T1D), and that maternal overweight and ... read more

June 12, 2014  A radiotracer or marker and PET scanning has been used by researchers as a non-invasive technique to follow changes in how many active beta cells a person has. For nearly 100 years, scientists have ... read more

Mar. 5, 2013  A new study has shown that a single gene called SIRT1 may be involved in the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and other autoimmune diseases. The study represents the first demonstration of a ... read more